Triton T90SR DuElec Pumped Electric Shower - WTF

Sparky2009

Hello All, I need some advice . . .

I just got my ensuite renovated and I got a brand new Triton T90SR DuElec Pumped Electric Shower installed. The thing cost €570 so I expected wonderful things in terms of pressure, etc. It's gravity fed from a tank in the attic. The house is a 30 year old dormer bungalow. I used the shower for the first time this morning and it wasn't great. Took a long time to heat up and the pressure wasn't brilliant. We have a Mira (half the price) in the upstairs toilet (also gravity fed) that's better. The guys that did the bathroom were great and really know their stuff. The temperature dial turns all the way (as that was an issue in a few threads I saw online) so I doubt it's an installation issue.

Is the shower just a bit crap? Should I bring it back to the bathroom place I got it? Should I give the builder/plumber a shout back? I'm really disappointed to say the least. I should say that after 20 minutes of farting around with it I got a reasonably warm (but not boiling) shower at a underwhelming pressure level so 'technically' it works.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sleeper12

Biggest issue with that shower (black version) is that it's a white plastic case & cover sprayed black. The tiniest scratch sticks out like a sore thumb.

You say the installers were wonderful. Did they test the flow rate for you? What did they do to rectify the issue? What did they say the issue was? Obviously they ran the shower at the time of installation. Were they happy with the flow rate?

If you supplied the shower then you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

All 9kw showers have the exact same flow rate. You mira will say 9.8kw but that is based on the UK 240 volt. Same shower here at 230V is 9kw. The rain head doesn't give better pressure or flow rate, nor does it claim to do this. The installer should have tested the flow rate at the time of installation. It's a simple thing to do. Get a litre jug. Get the shower at a temperature you'd shower in. See how many times you can fill the litre jug in 60 seconds. I'd expect 3 to 3.5 lpm at this time of year & possibly as high as 5 lpm on a hot sunny day. You can do the same test on the Mira shower. I'd suspect the flow rate will be close to the triton.

Sparky2009

Thanks Sleeper12, in fairness to the builder/plumber I only discovered the issue this morning. I’d say they just turned it on when they installed it and water come out so they were happy enough. I’m basing their ability to install it correctly based on the quality of their work generally. I guess I’m trying to determine if the problem is with the unit or my house. I’ve been living here less than a year so not an expert. In terms of the flow rate (which I’ll test later today) could it just be that the flow rate in my house is crap?

KildareP

For your own situation, it sounds like the shower is operating correctly - if the flowrate going into the shower was genuinely too low the water would be coming out scalding hot on max heating power (or alternating between freezing and scalding as the thermal cutoff tripped in and out).

And assuming the top knob is indeed correctly aligned - set the bottom knob at 3 o clock, then with the top at 9 o clock the water should be cold, top at 12 o clock should be warm, top at 3 o clock should be hot - then the shower is most likely at the limit for this time of year.

Also, one difference between the Triton and the Mira - as far as I know Mira supply an aerated shower head by default but Triton do not.

This mixes air into the water stream which can give the impression of a much higher flow rate while using signficantly less water (and thus having to heat significantly less water) than the Triton but as Sleeper12 says, if you measure off 60 seconds of flow into a marked jug you'll find both produce around the same amount of water for a given temperature.

From our own experience, we have the T90SR but the handheld only version (no rainhead) and we recently added a separate rainhead shower fed off the hot water tank with a booster pump.

In winter the T90SR had to be up near max (second knob at 3 o clock) on full power (top knob at 3 o clock) and the flowrate is pretty weak as a result.

In summer, it's much better since anything beyond 12 o clock on the bottom knob and the water starts to be scalding hot. That's to be expected though as the water in the header tank and going into the shower will easily be 10-15C warmer in summer than now.

We got the separate pumped rainhead because we wanted a decent flowrate in winter and based on the spray head flowrate a rainhead fed off the T90 would have been awful (unsurprisingly though the separate rainhead will churn through the entire hot water tank in about 20 minutes!)

Kaisr Sose

I was told to avoid these electric showers for gravity fed tank as the pressure is poor.

I thought it strange advice as so many homes have these installed for instant hot, pumped showers.

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121761959#Comment_121761959

we are adding a pumped shower side by side with our electric.. you just can't get high pressure in a shower where the water needs to be heated as its passed through it.. if i could ever get a plumber that is..

Sparky2009

Thank you everyone for your replies. The reason I went for this model is that it's supposed to have the pump built in to it to increase pressure.

Also, it seems to be struggling to mix the hot and cold properly (even after running it a few minutes) - not in an extreme way but noticable - and the water seems to 'pulse' a bit when it's coming out. Anyone know why a brand new unit would do that?

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121762413#Comment_121762413

It does have a pump but it's not designed to give great pressure. Turn it all the way to cold and you will get great pressure. The pump is to give constant pressure where a mains fed shower the pressure fluctuates. A 9kw shower, no matter what make, can only put out 3 to 3.5 litres of warm water at this time of year. It could get as high as 5 litres of warm water on the hottest days of the year. If you get 3 to 3.5 lpm then shower is working correctly. Less than that then you could have an airlock or a faulty element.

Sparky2009

Tested the flow rate of both triton and upstairs Mira there - both 2.8 lpm

I guess I’m stuck with a crap shower. ☹️

Sleeper12

Sounds like you really wanted a power shower rather than an electric shower. Power shower is around 14 litres per minute. On a positive note you got a black triton t90sr at a great price

blackbox

A lot of people don't seem to know that the limiting factor on this type of shower is their ability to heat water and has nothing to do with the pressure.

The reason that the flow or pressure is low is because if you turn it any higher the temperature will go down.

They generally work fine in the summer because the water in the attic tank is already about 10 degrees warmer so they have a lot less heating to do.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121764143#Comment_121764143

Have a look and see can you get an aerated shower head.

It won't increase the flow rate but it will make it feel like there is more water coming through than there is.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121765407#Comment_121765407

A lot of people are not getting the correct information from the trade counter or from their installers. I think OP would have been delighted with a Triton novel SR silent running thermostatic power shower with dual head putting out 14 litres of water per minute

John.G

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121764143#Comment_121764143

Are you sure you have measured it properly?, if so you are running at reduced voltage due to supply problems or wiring sizing IMO assuming a healthy shower.

My mains water supply is 11.1C just now, say 11.0C. A 9kw shower running at 9.0kw will give a showering temp of a impossible 57C at a flow rate of 2.8LPM. You would still get 34C at 2.8LPM even if running it on Economy, 1/2 power. Even if your mains temperature is only 9C then would expect 4.0LPM at 40C.

If you are indeed only getting 2.8LPM at say 40C showering temperature then a healthy 9kw shower and assuming its on full power setting will "only" require 5.67kw at a shower terminal voltage of 182.6V, don't think the shower solenoid valve would even open at that voltage.

If your shower has 230V at the shower terminals then here are the flow rates at the corresponding shower temperatures. (from mains at 11C)

LPM/DegC.......3.79/45, 4.16/42, 4.45/40, 4.78/38.